A proposal which could see North East housing associations sign up to the controversial right-to-buy policy has been branded “crude blackmail” by a North East Labour peer.

Ministers are prepared to drop plans to legislate for an extension of the right to buy to housing associations (HAs) if providers are willing to voluntarily allow tenants to buy homes from HAs if they wish. Communities Secretary Greg Clark unveiled the proposed deal this week and Britain’s 1,400 HAs, many of which are charities, have seven days to sign up.

The Government is framing the proposal as a compromise which opens up home ownership to HA tenants, but critics regard the move as a back-room deal which could wipe out the financial clout of HAs that would allow them to build new homes.

Former Newcastle City Council leader Jeremy Beecham, now Shadow Local Government Minister, called on HAs to reject the deal as it allows the Government to avoid Parliamentary scrutiny.

“It is appalling,” he said. “It seems to me to be crude blackmail. They are trying to bypass legislation.

“They were in real trouble on right to buy with the House of Lords because they wouldn’t have stood for it. I also don’t think it would have got through the Commons because a lot of Tories have concerns about forcing charities to do this.

“I don’t see what housing associations get out of it because the threat of the legislation will still be there.

“I hope that housing associations do not back this deal.” The National Housing Federation (NHF) says there are 19,620 HA tenants in the North East who would be eligible for the RTB scheme.

Lord Jeremy Beecham

RTB was originally introduced for local authority homes by Margaret Thatcher and allows tenants to buy their rented home for a discount. But Lord Beecham says giving HAs a week to sign up for a deal is not enough as questions remain about the details.

“How many properties will they have to sell and over what period?” he said. “There are no incentives for housing associations to sign up to this. It is an extraordinary piece of Government strong-arming and housing associations shouldn’t succumb to.

“It is not in the interests of those that they are in business to support.

“The Government is seeking to bypass any Parliamentary procedure.”

Coun Allan Hepple, cabinet member responsible for housing at Northumberland County Council, said: “I am shocked to hear of this proposal, which seems to be a way of getting the right to buy into housing associations by the back door, without essential scrutiny by Parliament or appropriate consultation with local authorities.

“We have 8,000 people on our housing waiting list. These proposals would still see the loss of affordable rented homes for those who are in desperate need.”

The policy was central to the Conservatives’ manifesto at the General Election, but the deal would suggest a lack of confidence on the part of ministers in the policy’s safe passage through Parliament.

Mr Clark told a NHF conference this week: “Your tenants share the same hopes and dreams as everyone else. They have the same ambitions for themselves and their families. They should be given the same opportunity, if they want it, to own their home.

“There is no reason why signing a tenancy agreement with a housing association should mean signing away your aspirations to be a homeowner.”

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “We want to help anyone who works hard and aspires to own their own home to make their dream a reality.

“The NHF has voluntarily come forward with a proposal, which the Government will now consider.

“Since 2012, councils have already delivered more than 3,000 homes through the reinvigorated right-to-buy scheme.”

Councillor Allan Hepple, cabinet member responsible for housing at Northumberland County Council said: “I am shocked to hear of this proposal, which seems to be a way of getting the Right to Buy into housing associations by the back door, and without essential scrutiny by Parliament or appropriate consultation with local authorities. Implementing major initiatives without understanding the implications is unacceptable.

“We have 8,000 people on our housing waiting list in Northumberland and these proposals would still see the loss of affordable rented homes for those who are in desperate need.

“I also fundamentally disagree with the Government’s proposals to force councils to sell their most valuable houses to compensate housing associations for their losses under this Right to Buy scheme.

“These, when added to the Government’s intervention on rent levels, puts serious doubt over the ability to deliver much needed new affordable rented homes in Northumberland.”